John Williams studied at the Universities of Hull and Warwick, and was a lecturer at Aberdeen University before joining Durham University in 2001. His research has focused on English school international relations theory, especially its normative dimension, on the ethics of territorial borders, and on the ethics of violence in international relations. He has published six authored and edited books and twenty papers and chapters in academic journals and collections. His work has appeared in leading journals such as the Review of International Studies and the European Journal of International Relations.